Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

can to make sure Voldemort can’t carry out his plans,’ said Sirius.
    ‘How d’you know what his plans are?’ Harry asked quickly.
    ‘Dumbledore’s got a shrewd idea,’ said Lupin, ‘and Dumbledore’s shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate.’
    ‘So what does Dumbledore reckon he’s planning?’
    ‘Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again,’ said Sirius. ‘In the old days he had huge numbers at his command: witches and wizards he’d bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they’ll be just one of the groups he’s after. He’s certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters.’
    ‘So you’re trying to stop him getting more followers?’
    ‘We’re doing our best,’ said Lupin.
    ‘How?’
    ‘Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard,’ said Bill. ‘It’s proving tricky, though.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because of the Ministry’s attitude,’ said Tonks. ‘You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn’t shifted his position at all. He’s absolutely refusing to believe it’s happened.’
    ‘But why?’ said Harry desperately. ‘Why’s he being so stupid? If Dumbledore –’
    ‘Ah, well, you’ve put your finger on the problem,’ said Mr Weasley with a wry smile. ‘Dumbledore.’
    ‘Fudge is frightened of him, you see,’ said Tonks sadly.
    ‘Frightened of Dumbledore?’ said Harry incredulously.
    ‘Frightened of what he’s up to,’ said Mr Weasley. ‘Fudge thinks Dumbledore’s plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic.’
    ‘But Dumbledore doesn’t want –’
    ‘Of course he doesn’t,’ said Mr Weasley. ‘He’s never wanted the Minister’s job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he’s never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job.’
    ‘Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore’s much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice,’ said Lupin. ‘But it seems he’s become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for Magic and he’s managed to convince himself that he’s the clever one and Dumbledore’s simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it.’
    ‘How can he think that?’ said Harry angrily. ‘How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up – that I’d make it all up?’
    ‘Because accepting that Voldemort’s back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn’t had to cope with for nearly fourteen years,’ said Sirius bitterly. ‘Fudge just can’t bring himself to face it. It’s so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore’s lying to destabilise him.’
    ‘You see the problem,’ said Lupin. ‘While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it’s hard to convince people he’s back, especially as they really don’t want to believe it in the first place. What’s more, the Ministry’s leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they’re calling Dumbledore’s rumour-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware anything’s happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they’re using the Imperius Curse.’
    ‘But you’re telling people, aren’t you?’ said Harry, looking around at Mr Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin and Tonks. ‘You’re letting people know he’s back?’
    They all smiled humourlessly.
    ‘Well, as everyone thinks I’m a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry’s put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?’ said Sirius restlessly.
    ‘And I’m not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,’ said Lupin. ‘It’s an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.’
    ‘Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off,’ said Sirius, ‘and it’s very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them.’
    ‘We’ve managed to convince a couple of